Is chewing your daily med ok.

Mar 12, 2014

Good morning Dr.Young... I wanted to ask the question of whether it was okay to chew my med. it's just a single tablet. Called complera. I don't know how much you may know about this med yet. From what I was told. It is still fairly new. But currently at the moment the only way for me to take it is to chew it. I do guzzle juice to make sure there's no left overs in my teeth. My question is it not as strong/effective doing it this way. Respond when you find time Doctor. But I'm anxiously nervous about your response, hoping that it's just as good as swallowing hole.

Yours truly.

Nervous :-|

Response from Dr. Young

Hello and thanks for posting.

No need to be anxious or nervous.

Complera isn't all that new- the single tablet was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in August 2011, and two of its components (tenofovir and FTC) approved in 2004.

It should be ok to chew the tablet; just make sure to take the medication with a full meal. I'd let your provider know that you're doing this, just to make sure that your viral load response is appropriate.

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